Augmented reality may refer to a view of a physical, real-world environment that is augmented with the addition of virtual content. In one example, a head-mounted display device with a near-eye transparent display screen may allow a user to view a real-world environment through the display. One or more two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects may be presented to the user via the transparent display of the head-mounted display device in a manner that augments the user's view of the real-world environment to create an augmented reality virtual environment.
It can prove challenging to provide users with a realistic and believable augmented reality experience using transparent displays. In some cases, such as when a high contrast real-world object is located behind a 3D virtual image, the virtual image may appear to be see-through, 2D, and/or less than realistic to a user. To address these issues, the intensity or brightness of the virtual image may be increased. However, displaying a brighter virtual image uses more power, and correspondingly larger and more expensive power supply components are needed. Further, some ambient conditions may include very bright light, such as a ski slope in bright sun. In such conditions, increasing the intensity of a virtual image in front of the very bright background may be impractical and insufficient to meaningfully address the above issues.